Console gamers, why do you feel console gaming is better than PC?

[torok]

SvennoJ said:

I limit my time behind a laptop now and feel great. A trackpad is indeed better, just not for games. The last time I really dove into a PC games was Elite Dangerous, which plays fine on a controller. (After setting up 8 pages of control mappings and still use keyboard for some functions, then do it again when a patch wipes it all out lol). That has so much downtime that I could sit back and relax, watch tv in between or even excersize while flying long distances which was most of the time. Before that I made a map of my hometown for cities in motion 2, which was too intense. I did it anyway, pushing through the pain, damn ocd! I quit video editing as well, just not worth it.

GT Sport has improved a lot in the match making department, the sportmanship rating is great putting skilled careful drivers apart from destruction derby drivers. It can still go further though. Perhaps the active pool is too small, sometimes the skill difference is still quite big, putting everyone from A to D class together. (luckily all SR S, so still careful drivers) Perhaps there just aren't that many accident free drivers. What's worse is that often geographically far away people make it into the mix. I'm in Canada and playing against people from Brazil, Chile, Greece, Italy has its issues. When you drive bumper to bumper any bit of lag can easily throw you off and make you bump the other player. GT Sport does a decent job at smoothing it out yet the sudden changes of direction of those opponents makes it clear the laws of physics still exist.

For some reason those far away players are often the ones with the best qualifying times, not really belonging in the mix. Perhaps the pool of skilled wheel users with clean ratings is so small they can't be matched closer to home. It's also very hard to overtake them with the lag. As a result the whole matchmaking process  is kinda opposite that the further you climb in rank the greater the disparity becomes in who you are matched against. Sink back to D class and the spread in qualifying times is perhaps 1 or 2 seconds. Climb up to B class and the spread can be as high as 10 sec.

Matchmaking is a tricky thing, it's vastly better than it was and infinitely greater than joining a random lobby where the cars are unbalanced and overpowered and you generally get treated as a bumper by other racers. It doesn't track SR rating in lobbies. Sometimes you feel more like you're in a pinball machine.

As for shooters online, I never play those anymore. With perks and what not, matchmaking is a joke for new players, as well as getting put against teams. It's not relaxing. The last one I enjoyed was Resistance 2's 8 player coop against the environment. Far Cry 3 had 4 player pve as well, yet there players quit out as soon as they saw you were lower level then them. I tried Uncharted 2 coop, got called a noob for not knowing the map inside out already, whatever, it wasn't fun gameplay anyway. I did enjoy Star Trek Bridge crew coop a ton this year. Helping out newcomers there was very rewarding as well as playing with an experienced crew. I wish it would get some DLC (instead of fixing the loophole that made experienced play more interesting)

To avoid tendinitis or carpal tunnel syndrome, it's important for us to understand what causes it. A M/KB makes your arm do movements it is not supposed to thousands of times. Mainly:

- You hold the mouse with your wrist resting. So you move a lot just the wrist. This joint is not supposed to be used that much in a short sequence. The normal movement is to mostly move your arm and just use the wrist slightly. When you use a laptop on your lap (yes, bad for the neck), you will notice that you use the trackpad mostly by moving the whole arm instead of just the wrist. Use a laptop on a desk or a regular M/KB and you will see how your movement behavior change.

- The wrist was made to stay straight most of the time. To use a mouse, it is always in an arc. For a keyboard, you have to flex it slightly because the keys are on a straight line while your arms are at an angle. This is a complete slaughter for your carpal tunnel.

Things that can improve:

- For the neck, the monitor should be at eye level.

- For the hands, the desk should be lower. Or you can set up your chair a bit higher. That will avoid having you resting your wrists on the table.

- Getting more ergonomic KB and M. MS has the amazing Natural Keyboard (https://www.microsoft.com/accessories/en-us/products/keyboards/natural-ergonomic-keyboard-4000/b2m-00012). You can also go for more ergonomic mouses.

 

I guess GT Sport still has a limited user base. Playing with people from far away is generally terrible. I live in Brazil, but I'm currently in the EU for a few months, and playing with my Brazilian friends is a lag fest. Anyway, games like UC4 could split the userbase without issues, it's a 10M seller anyway.

What I do with UC4 is that when I notice a party I just quit and look for other match. No point in trying to fight, unless it's a pretty bad party. Resistance 2 was probably the most fun shooter I've played, I loved the 60 player team DM. The weapons were the best ever. Sony should remaster the Resistance trilogy with the MP. Day 1 for me.